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The Bastion of Last Hope
This town on Othrys in Carceri serves as the planar headquarters of the Revolutionary League. It squats far back in the mountains, resembling an immense toad from a distance. It serves as a gathering-place of the anonymous, a place of shady dealings and lies upon lies where no one trusts anyone else. All who walk here travel under pseudonyms and are hooded and masked against outside perception. You never know who you're dealing with at the Bastion, and the place thrives on this absence of knowledge, as it is a place to go where no one will ask your name or what business you have here...assuming you can show your loyalty to the Anarchist cause, that is. The town is well-funded, almost mercantile in a black-market way. The League collects coin from various power sources as a kind of bribe, to ensure they work against the enemies of their benefactors. Of course, given that there's no control or leadership of the League, it's quite possible those benefactors contribute more to League's efforts against their own organization than to their enemies' downfall. Anarchists don't like being told what to do. Services There's a host of services of questionable legality at the Bastion available for the one willing to spend their coin. They tend to be quite expensive -- these kinds of services aren't those that have a lot of public supply. More common services that a traveler might want, including smithing, healing, outfitting, and food, are also fairly pricey. The League knows they've got something of a captive audience here. Of special metion is the surgeon Blind Trust (male human, level 8 thief, Chaotic Neutral), an Anarchist who works kives and razors and putty and paints to craft disguises that go bone-deep into a person's face. Blind Trust will literally change your appearance into that of another person, for a hefty fee. That fee might include a buyer's life -- Blind Trust is known to get blind drunk or have fits of blind mandess, and more than one person has come out from under his knife horribly scarred, or simply chopped to little bits. He's a known drunk, but there's none better at face-surgery if he can see straight. Residents Leadership The Anarchists don't take kindly to those with power or control, so the closest they get to leadership in the Bastion is someone who volunteers to look after the place and deal with disasters. This person is known only as the Steward (female half-elf, level 6 thief, Neutral Evil), a Revolutionary League member who stocks the larders, hires contractors to fix what needs fixing, and checks out newcomers. She's assisted by a team of servants who live full-time at the Bastion, and go around un-masked. This generally helpful lot is perhaps the most mistrusted of all the Bastion's inhabitants -- they act like they have nothing to hide, and they're exceedingly helpful. Militia The "army" in the Bastion largely consists of the Anarchists themselves. They work surprisingly well together, especially against outside threats, though jibes and insults are common between two cells. A typical cell consists of a level 3-5 mage, a level 3-5 warrior, and a level 4-6 thief, though priests are fairly rare. Hooks Razor Jack This dashing young tiefling (male tiefling, level 4 fighter, Lawful Evil) is very interested in finding out which of the many masked, hooded figures in the Bastion is the Steward. He is hoping to catch her ear and her eye, to become a servant and better help the town. There's a lot of gossip about Razor Jack, and much of it centers around the possibility that he's a Harmonium agent working to bring down the Bastion from within, just looking to identify the Steward so he can arrest her in Sigil. Of course, this being the Bastion of Last Hope, this isn't exactly an uncommon rumor about any particular person, and even if it were true, arresting the Steward might functionally do very little to bring down the Bastion (and anyway has been tried by rival sects on at least two separate occasions). The Monster There's reportedly a monster in the narrow, winding bowels of the Bastion, wreaking havoc among the rothe herds and their keepers, and spreading panic in some of those who live in the lower caverns. No one has claimed to see the creatures, but many have seen bodies partially dissolved, as if eaten away by acid, and fear what might have done it. Bastion of Last Hope